United Business Class to Japan

As I noted in my welcome post…the majority of my travel is domestic. In October 2008, I got my first chance to fly to Japan for work and selected United Airlines’ Business Class to fly in. Now I know the consensus on FlyerTalk (see my travel links if you aren’t sure what that is) is to fly foreign airlines as both the hard and soft products are vastly superior to our US airlines. That said, as a Premier (2P) on United at the time of the first leg of this 6-leg trip, being that I was in a paid business fare class, I wanted my 150% EQMs (elite qualifying miles) for this trip. It would ultimately bring me up to Premier Executive (1P) status. As flying domestically is rather boring, this post will concentrate on the business class legs between San Francisco, CA (SFO) and Osaka/Kansai, Japan (KIX).

The equipment that United uses between San Francisco and Osaka is a Boeing 777. United has 3 different configurations of the 777 and uses the XP configuration on the SFO-KIX run. This is the United 777 WW1 configuration shown on SeatGuru. United is in the midst of upgrading both business class and first class throughout their international fleet, but alas, the 777s will be the last of the big 3 international plane types to be reconfigured. As of this post, there is not a single reconfigured 777 flying.

United Transpacific Business Class Seat

Business Class on this plane, even with the old seats, was very comfortable for me. Probably because I haven’t been spoiled by flying foreign airlines and mostly all my travel is domestic. I have flown internationally configured United aircraft on domestic repositioning flights, but I didn’t really appreciate it fully as I wasn’t stuck in it for 8+ hours. My favorite feature of the seat was the lumbar support. There was even a button to select alternating firm/soft lumbar support that I used throughout the entire flight as my back appreciated the constantly changing support.

Flying in any class of service repeatedly leads to an appreciation of good flight crews. Service is very methodical on every flight. Predeparture beverage service in premium classes. Takeoff. Warm nuts and a beverage service in premium classes. Followed by the meal service. Then beverage services, and on this flight, another meal service before landing. The flight crews on both my outbound and return flights were excellent. My outbound crew was a notch above the return crew in that the service was delivered with a genuine interest in passenger comfort. The return service seemed a little more routine and didn’t seem as special as the outbound. To follow are some pictures in the order in which the service on the return trip was carried out:

Predeparture Beverage - Cheap Champagne for Me

The quality of the food and beverages that was served fell below my expectations. Although given the knowledge I’ve gleaned from FlyerTalk, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Pre-Meal Nuts & Beverage Service

One of the biggest debates in the United frequent flyer community surrounds the nuts. The are supposed to be served warm, but it seems like some crews just can’t grasp that fact – or are too lazy to heat up the tray. For my flights, I received warm nuts on the outbound, and cold nuts on the return. Maybe that’s why I preferred the outbound flight crew?

United Transpacific Business Class Menu Cover - October 2008

Menus were handed out at different times on my outbound vs. return. On the outbound flight, menus were distributed prior to the nuts and beverage service. On my return flight (the one where I took these pictures), the menu was distributed at almost the same time as the nuts and beverage service, so I decided to include the pictures in that order.

United Transpacific Business Class KIX-SFO Appetizer - Smoked Salmon Rose, Sweet Sesame Pork, Vegetable Sushi, Pickled Ginger, and Fresh Seasonal Greens w/Blue Cheese

Then comes meal service. The outbound SFO-KIX flight served lunch followed by lunch due to the departure and arrival time. The return KIX-SFO flight (as pictured above) serves a dinner followed by breakfast prior to landing. Shown in the picture is the appetizer, bread, and salad portion of the dinner service. The appetizer and greens are pre-plated. The dressing is poured over the greens by the flight attendant (FA) seatside. To accompany my meal I chose a red wine which I can’t recall the name of at the moment. It was fairly decent.

United Transpacific Business Class KIX-SFO Dinner - Pan-Seared Filet Mignon with Balsamic Onion Demi-Glace, Baked Stuffed Potato with Chives, and Asparagus

Next its time for the main course. The appetizer plate is removed from the tray and replaced with the main course. On this flight I was served a filet in a rather salty sauce. Overall, for airline beef, I think this was a grand slam for the FAs on this flight as the steak was cooked to about medium and was delicious in flavor and texture. The downside was the brown mystery sauce (they refer to it as a balsamic onion demi-glace), as it was super salty. I pretty much pushed as much of it as possible off the meat. The asparagus was ok (I love asparagus and am very particular in how it is cooked). The potato was a potato. Not bad, and served with butter, so I was all set.

United Transpacific Business Class KIX-SFO Dessert - International Cheese Selection ft. Red Cheddar and Brie

Dessert was pretty lame. My other option was an apple crêpe with caramel sauce. I’m not really into desserts with apples, so I decided to go for the cheese plate. It was simply too small. The cheddar was too hard and the brie was double creme (at best). The crackers were just your basic, but the grapes were delicious. Overall a pretty crappy ending to a decent meal service.

Following the meal service I nodded off into la la land. In fact, on the outbound flight I didn’t even make it to dessert before I nodded off. There’s no better way to pass time trapped in a flying metal tube than by sleeping. Sleeping in this seat was very easy for me. An amenity kit was placed on every seat prior to boarding, and it contained an eye mask. A few gin and tonics and an eye mask and I was all set. The seat doesn’t recline to 180 degrees, but the seat becomes an angled mostly-flat seat which worked for me.

United Transpacific Business Class KIX-SFO Breakfast - Fresh Seasonal Fruit Plate with Creamy Yogurt

I awoke to the sound of FAs working the cabin. It was time for breakfast. Aside from my selection of the fruit plate, the alternate offering was scrambled eggs with ham and cheese on a waffle. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely sounded (and was) more filling, but I never seem to like eggs on planes. That said, I chose the fruit plate which was adequate although small. Everyone who knows me will tell you I’m not a big eater, so the size was decent (I don’t think I even finished everything). The breakfast service ended about 30 minutes before landing. All-in-all…a good flight.